A Newark woman was sentenced on Monday to more than 6 1/2 years in prison for a credit-card fraud and identity-theft scheme aimed at bilking elderly women, authorities said.
Terrell Brunson, 40, had previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson to charges of access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft, authorities said, for a scheme that ran from April 2012 to February 2013.
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On Monday, Thompson sentenced Brunson in federal court in Trenton to 51 months for access-device fraud count, 24 consecutive months for aggravated identity theft, and four consecutive months for violating her supervised release on previous, similar charges of which she had been convicted in April 2009, authorities said.
Brunson’s lawyer could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Authorities said Brunson searched through publicly available directories for telephone numbers of women who she believed, based on their names, were elderly. One name she commonly looked for in the directories was “Ruth,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said
Brunson would then call the targeted women and pretend to be someone else, such as a credit card company representative, authorities said, while asking them for personal information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth. Brunson would next contact credit card companies and use the personal information to have herself added as an authorized user to the victims’ accounts, or to create new accounts, authorities said.
In one instance from July 2012, authorities said, a woman identified as “Victim One” got a telephone call from Brunson. Brunson asked about an alleged $400 transaction that she claimed the victim had made at a Walmart, authorities said.
The alleged victim told Brunson the Walmart transaction was fraudulent and gave her Social Security number, date of birth and mother’s maiden name. Brunson used the person’s information to open two retail store credit card accounts and to access one of the person’s current credit card accounts. Brunson then used the accounts to make thousands of dollars’ worth of purchases online and in person at stores and restaurants in New Jersey, authorities said.
Brunson committed her offenses while on supervised release, authorities said, adding that in addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson sentenced Brunson to three years of supervised release, entered a judgment of forfeiture in the amount of $10,894 and ordered Brunson to pay $7,069 in restitution.
